FBI offers free Child ID app for parents

BOSTON — The Federal Bureau of Investigation announced Thursday that it is offering a Child ID application for parents that can be downloaded free from the iTunes App Store.

Special Agent in Charge Richard DesLauriers of the FBI’s Boston Division is notifying Maine parents that the smartphone application enables users to store vital information and photos of their child for easy dissemination in an emergency.

The app was simply designed to input a child’s critical information: eye color, height and weight, physical traits and photographs. The app allows parents to email a child’s photo and physical characteristics immediately to law enforcement officials, DesLauriers said. With the click of a button the information automatically turns into an email to be sent to authorities.

“As with any crime, especially those committed against children, time is our adversary,” DesLauriers said. “Every second, every minute, every hour counts in locating a child and bringing them home safely.

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“With the use of technology today, the Child ID App will assist parents in quickly providing their child’s identifiable information to law enforcement officials,” he said.

The app also includes tips on keeping children safe as well as specific guidance on what to do in the first few crucial hours after a child goes missing. Additional resources, such as links to the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children and the National Child Identification Program, help educate parents further in the event the unthinkable should occur, the FBI said in a news release.

Currently, the app is available only to iPhone users but DesLauriers said it will be available for other smartphones this year. The FBI said it does not collect or store data from the app, which is password-protected and subject to Apple’s own iPhone security standards.